Snowplows cleared paths for emergency vehicles in Rhode Island, and Latest York City prepared to dump warm water on snow and ice piles as the Northeastern United States continued to grapple with the aftermath of a massive snowstorm Wednesday. The storm, which blanketed the region from Maryland to Maine, left cities scrambling to clear towering snowdrifts that showed no immediate signs of melting.
New York City had spread 65 million kilograms (143 million pounds) of salt by Tuesday evening, according to Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The city also registered at least 3,500 residents for $30-per-hour emergency shoveling shifts to clear public streets and bus stops. Though, with another storm expected to arrive Wednesday, officials acknowledged that significant work remained, particularly for individuals with disabilities.
Jeff Peters, spokesperson for the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, described sections of the city as effectively cut off. “You’ll find a portion of a sidewalk that is clear, and then there’s maybe a 6-inch pathway that can only be walked with one foot in front of the other and no room for a stroller, rollator, walker or crutches,” Peters said. “Then you get to the corner and not only is it unshoveled, but you have basically a glacier at the end of it.”
The challenges extended beyond New York. Tina Guenette, a resident of Harrisville, Rhode Island, who uses a motorized wheelchair, was forced to shovel her own yard after the town received more than 33 inches (84 centimeters) of snow. “I really don’t have a choice if my service dog needs to go out,” Guenette said Tuesday. She noted that Harrisville’s volunteer snow-shoveling program had not seen volunteers in recent years.
The National Weather Service warned that a storm system originating in the Great Lakes region was approaching the Northeast Wednesday, potentially bringing a mix of rain and snow. Although not expected to be as severe as the earlier storm, the new system threatened to exacerbate existing difficulties. NYC Emergency Management cautioned morning commuters Wednesday that sub-freezing temperatures and light snow could create slippery roads and sidewalks.
Monday’s storm caused widespread disruption, including flight cancellations, transportation delays, power outages, and at least one fatality. Rhode Island received nearly a meter (3 feet) of snow, surpassing snowfall totals from the historic blizzard of 1978, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologist Ryan Maue, formerly of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, calculated that if all the snow that fell from Maryland to Maine had landed solely on Manhattan, it would have reached a height exceeding one mile.
In Newport, Rhode Island, police reported finding 21-year-vintage Joseph Boutros unconscious inside a snow-covered vehicle Monday night. Boutros, a student at Salve Regina University, was transported to a hospital and later pronounced dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to a police statement.
Some school districts resumed in-person classes Wednesday, including Philadelphia, which had shifted to online learning earlier in the week. New York City’s public school system, the largest in the nation, remained open Tuesday, though many students and their families faced challenging commutes through large snowdrifts and past salt spreaders.
Power had been restored to many of the hundreds of thousands of customers who lost service in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island. However, approximately 173,000 customers in Massachusetts remained without electricity as of Wednesday morning. Thousands of flights had been canceled in the days leading up to Wednesday, but disruptions appeared to be easing, with around 150 flights grounded, according to FlightAware.
Jamie Meyers, arriving at a New York airport from Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Tuesday night, reported that passengers on her flight broke into applause upon landing. Meyers had been scheduled to arrive Sunday but faced a cancellation and significant delays.
